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Timbers Owner: Women’s Soccer Coming To Portland

U.S. Soccer announced Wednesday that it plans to create a new national women’s soccer league, with two of its first eight clubs to be based in Portland and Seattle. Play would begin in 2013.

The other teams are based in Boston, Chicago, western New York, New Jersey, Kansas City and Washington, D.C., according to the Associated Press.

“We are pleased to partner with U.S. Soccer to bring a new women’s professional team to Portland and to do our part to make a top-flight women’s league possible in our country,” Merritt Paulson, owner of the Portland Timbers, said in a statement. “Championing a new women’s league and operating a team here in Soccer City, USA, will be an important part of that growth.”

A team name and logo will be announced in the coming weeks, as will information about game schedules and ticket sales, Paulson said.

The last national women’s soccer league, Women’s Professional Soccer, ceased play in January after less than three years in operation.